Customer Reviews

Psych-Out [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - Australia ]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Perhaps no 1960's hippie "exploitation" flick has more realism than 1968's AIC feature: "Psych-Out". With it's filming on location during the height of 1967's Haight Ashbury scene, this fictional account of Susan Strasberg as Jenny, a 17 year old runaway who arrives in the Haight looking for her dropped out acid-head guru brother excels as an unintentional documentary of the time. Along Jenny's way she runs into the trio of Jack Nicholson as Stoney, and 2 sidekick charactors played by Adam Roarke and Max Julien. With very explicit scenes of drug use and drug-induced, trippy "hippie revelations", as well as a scene of a bad LSD trip in progress, the film does not take either side of the establishment/anti-establishment debate of the time. The film is both an exceptional period piece of life as it really was in the Haight's heyday, as well as an excellent study of the dissillusionment of the dropped out youth of the Vietnam era. With the one exception of Jack Nicholson being poorly cast as Stoney, the remaining performances by the others in the cast are all excellent. A must see film for any 1960's countercultural buff. It would make a great DVD release.

This DVD is an expurgated version of the Dick Clark produced/Richard Rush directed movie, "Psych-Out," from 1968. It begins with a bus travelling from Napa, California, carrying runaway, girl next door type, "Jenny" (Davis)--played by Susan Strasberg ("The Trip"), to Frisco's Haight-Ashbury. She appears open-eyed, ruminating on the meanness of war, both in a home life left behind, and the world, until awakened by a flower child girl passenger who titillates her with the redolent gift of a carnation. Jenny erupts with a smile as she gazes ecstatically out a window and envisions a much kinder kingdom of "flowers in your hair" folk in ubiquitous merriment. All along we hear the film's dulcet theme tune, "Pretty Song From 'Psych-Out'" by legendary Angeleno, psychedelic sextet, the Strawberry Alarm Clock (now back together!)--"I can see you, you can see me as we stand....And your face I've never seen it/Quite like this before."

Jenny, who is sought by the police, is searching for her artistic, wayward brother, "Steve," aka "The Seeker"--played by Bruce Dern ("The Trip"--Peter Fonda's LSD guide), who was once quoted as saying, "I've played more psychotics and freaks and dopers than anyone." The rednecks of the local junkyard (where he earlier lived in a car that had a painted slogan on it saying: "God is alive and well in a sugar cube") are pursuing him, because of his make love not war spirituality, he had expounded on in the park.

The movie's main man, "Stoney," is a wannabe rock star guitarist in the band "Mumblin' Jim"--played by Jack Nicholson ("Easy Rider," "The Trip" scriptwriter). He charges around in a flower power painted bus with his bandmates, as we hear the Alarm Clock's anthem, "Incense and Peppermints." Stoney hides square Jenny, indoctrinating his smitten protege in the craft of hippiedom, i.e., getting her to don period threads, from a store that sells everything gratis. He must adjust to the fact she is deaf, as the theme song earlier says: "You are on the run and all your problem/I'm aware/In the silent world/You see the words I say to you." He takes her to an abandoned and dilapidated, now overpopulated, Victorian mansion that he resides in. Here Jenny finds the disorganized and squalid goings-on of its "Pleasure Lovers" not her cup of bumblebee fudge.

Then there's local guru, "Dave"--played by Dean Stockwell ("Quantum Leap"). Dave is instantly enamoured with Jenny, when they're introduced by Stoney, at his home which is a box on a roof of some building. Stoney asks him if he'll rejoin Mumblin' Jim and the whereabouts of The Seeker is also brought up. Throughout the picture Dave undercuts Stoney's materialistic weltanschauung and game-playing lifestyle with a philosophical bravado that would make Timothy Leary proud.

What I found so radiantly picturesque in this movie was the celebration of unmitigated freedom, like the kaleidoscopic pageantry of hip minstrels prancing through the sun-drenched park, as the theme song (above) described: "I am lost in a poet's dream/where skies are burgundy....Waiting the artists surround it/with flowers and holiness."

The mystery of the film unfolds when Steve appears to Stoney at a closed art gallery he broke into, to retrieve his sculpture of a holy flame, he claims is "a present from God." He then explains how his sister became deaf because of trauma, suffered from abuse by a beguiling mother.

Next, the Alarm Clock, in paisley kurtas, are captured at a florid dance, where they perform "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow," followed by "The World's On Fire" (presaging events to come); the latter song lip-synced by Mumblin' Jim, as Steve reappears and notices Jenny, from behind. Meanwhile the junkyard rednecks return, spotting him. He flees and starts a conflagration with a torch in a building, he comfortably remains in.

Back at the mansion Stoney has a tiff with Jenny and walks off, after he catches her, compromisingly, with Dave, who is already high on some mind-blowing "Serenity, Tranquility, and Peace." Jenny takes a swig of same and Dave hands her a scrap of paper from Steve that reads: "God is in the flame." On the reverse of it is an address where her brother is at. Jenny departs into the bleak night to search for Steve, finds him and endeavours, unsuccessfully, to rescue him from his own Gotterdammerung. Dave, Stoney and coterie, go seeking disoriented Jenny, discovering her later amidst perilous traffic on the Golden Gate bridge. Dave rushes out and redeems her, but he and a passing car converge for the quietus. His final testament: "Reality is a deadly place; I hope this trip is a good one." The moral of this movie, then? Intolerance and cruelty are real, sometimes quelled by the sanctum of psychodysleptic drugs mixed with love--but have devastating drawbacks.

Some have questioned the authenticity of the locale, as well as the garb, argot and persona of the protagonists, in this film. However, what's important is that this movie fires an aura which fuels a time capsule--like Strawberry Alarm Clock melodies--that pour enveloping visions. If you are an ageless devotee of the 60s, go out and buy "Psych-Out" on DVD, to enter the mushroom and become a rainy day.

I specifically searched for a US region 1 copy and did not receive what I believed I ordered. There is nothing inside indicating how I am able to exchange or return this item.............

Director Richard Rush (The Stuntman) throws deaf 17 year old runaway Susan Strasberg into the Height Ashbury scene in search of her long lost brother played by Bruce Dern. She meets up with muscians Jack Nicholson, Adam Rourke and Max Julian who look after her and help scour San Fransisco in search of her acid-addled brother. During their search they promote their band, calm down a flipped-out friend with a circular saw, play some tunes with the Strawberry Alarm Clock, fight a bunch of hard-hat types and indulge in some downright hillarious dialogue.

While wallowing in a pile of cliches, this film (unlike many of its era) is more realistic than some and the performances are uniformly excellent. Dean Stockwell playing a groovy guru, Jack Nicholson looking hillarious with a ponytail as he belts out a version of 'Purple Haze', Max Julian conveying an all too realistic chemical state of mind and Bruce Dern as the brother who calls himself 'The Seeker' and lives in a garbage dump. The film also benfits from the cinematography by Lazlo Kovaks and would make a great double feature with Roger Corman's "The Trip".
*** 1/2

Okay, now I'm a fan of Susan Strasberg, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and Dean Stockwell. I also grew up in the 60s. This movie is a kick because it's a throwback to every indulgence we let ourselves have. As a work of art, this is mediocre at best. As a slice of Americana that has nothing to do with Grant Wood, this is the height of kitsch. You'll either love or hate it. If you're not sure which camp you're in, then I'm betting that you'll hate it. It is good for a laugh or two - especially the hair and clothes. Oh my lord, did I really dress like that? Unfortunately, I did.